Because for every goal he scores or assist he makes this season, Redmond could give as many as 33 deprived children access to education for a year.

The 23-year-old is an Ambassador for the Right to Play charity which uses sport and play to educate vulnerable and disadvantaged kids in some of the world’s poorest communities.

But on top of giving money every month, Redmond has committed to making an extra donation for every goal or assist too – and for him it’s personal.

He told Starsport: “I guess it’s easier for me to just go: ‘Here you go. Here’s a sum of money. I’ll be the face and just do this and that’ as a lot of players do.

“But that’s not who I am. It is a little bit of motivation. It’s challenging - and I think once I actually get out to witness it for myself I’ll maybe come back with a new lease of life and even more motivation.

“When I am playing the most important thing is the three points. But when you go home and you get that time to relax, you think: ‘’Wow! Me getting an assist of a goal has made a difference.’”

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“The fans do matter and when I’m playing for the club fans are a massive part of it”

Southampton star Nathan Redmond

Redmond freely admits he has not been at his best this season. He only has two assists to his name and hasn’t scored a league goal since May.

But he is determined to improve ahead of today’s clash with West Brom, and still fancies his chances of making England’s World Cup squad if he does.

Redmond said: “I finished Southampton’s top scorer in the league last season with eight goals. I sit back all the time and just think: ‘I had that chance and should have scored.’

“I could easily have had 11, 12, 13, 14 goals last season. For me that’s a big thing. I need to hit that double figure mark in goals and assists. I can’t rest until I get it.

“That will improve my case for an England call, one hundred per cent. Every player needs to do more. The day you stop learning or improving, that’s when you’re dead. I need to do more. Stats don’t lie.”

Redmond, who starred for England's Under-21s at Euro 2017 in the summer, has even been trolled on social media for his lack of goals this season.

But he said: "I don’t have Twitter on my phone. I have just a private Facebook that has 20 friends. I’ve grown up.

"As a kid I remember being on Facebook and I remember my agent having a go at me. I had about 4,000 friends. People I didn’t even know.

"This was when I was coming up through Birmingham. People were adding me and were like: ‘You play for Birmingham’ and I was like: ‘Yeah! They love me.’

"The fans do matter and when I’m playing for the club fans are a massive part of it. But once I am back at home with my girlfriend, my mum, my little brother, my little sister who is six. She could take my mind off just about anything.

"I don’t think half the people that write stuff on social media would say it to your face so I don't take it seriously. But me personally I’ve just grown up. I’ve matured.

"I used to be on Facebook and Twitter and Instagram a lot. But although I do understand the power of it, I am not really spending my time on it too much."

Redmond did his growing up on the mean streets of Birmingham, with mum Michelle, a single parent, helping to keep him on the straight and narrow by stressing the importance of a good education.

Times were tough for him and younger siblings Niall, 15, and Tiah, 6, and he was still a teen when his mum lost stillborn baby Tilly in 2012. Now he just wants to help others get the chance in life he had.

The Southampton star said: “Everyone from my mum to my agent knows how I feel about trying to help children. I have a few local charities but this helps me reach more people.

“I grew up in Birmingham, in the inner cities, raised by a single mother. I had support. If I had to go to training she would rush back from work to take me there.

“But there are kids all over the world that don’t have any parents at all, let alone one.

“I was good at football but my mum would say if my grades weren’t up to scratch this scholarship is not being signed, or she wouldn’t take me to training if I was misbehaving at school or in the streets.

“If she heard anything from the neighbours that was the thing that was taken away from me as punishment. Education was the focal point.

“I was on the bench for Birmingham in Year 11, Year 12. I thought I’d made it. But they told me if I didn’t get a C in all my GCSEs, I could train, but I couldn’t play. I have a lot of people to thank.

“I might not be here but for many people. The woman next door who told me to stop kicking the ball against the fence. The woman down the road who sent me home because I was out too late.

“You hope that it does inspire kids or anyone who’s listening. Anyone who takes the smallest ounce from it.

“If Thierry Henry had come to my school and told me to forget everything else and focus on this, this and this, I would have listened, because he was my idol. That’s what I want to do.

“You watch Comic Relief when these superstars are going out to deprived countries and you think: ‘Wow, this is mindblowing.’ I want to experience it."

MUST Right To Play train local volunteers and teachers as ‘coaches’ to deliver critical education programmes in 16 countries across Africa, Asia and the Middle East. To find out more visit www.righttoplay.org.uk